Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) Trekking: Full Story

September - October is a very good season to travel Nepal. The weather is clear, good sun shine, and its Autumn. Walking is not my thing, but travelling is, reaching to the height to see the sunrise and sunset, view of the mountains, reaching beyond the range of clouds and taking photographs is my thing. Travelling is very difficult not to travel but to gather the companions. There will be friends who want to go with you but could not at the last moment and friends who want to initially but steps back when the plan is ready. This have happened to me for many years. But last two years have been good for me. Last year I went to Muktinath (Lower Mustang) and this year to Annapurna Base Camp (ABC). I would like to thank all my friends who made this journey possible.

Annapurna Base Camp was where I wanted to go this year. The pictures posted on the facebook wall were just majestic. This is what drove me to make plan for ABC Trekking.

I wonder if anybody would accompany me, I doubted. It was a long trek at least for 10 days. Every one had to take a leave from their office. It was highly unlikely. I started making plan before 1.5 months to gather friends and make some plan. There were friends who were ready to go on my first call. I was excited to see the level of their response for which I thought we could be around 7 people. 10 days is a long leave at the time of one of biggest festival of Nepal - Dashain. Some of my friends could not make it. However we ended up in a group of 4 people. It was a descent number, we thought and it was.

The plan was to leave on October 1st before Dashain but for some circumstances we had to postponed it for 21st October. I thought the plan will not work because the gap was huge, but I didn't lose the hope. I started packing on 16 of the October. As this was the peak season, the travel agency suggested to take the sleeping bag as an alternative to sleep in the dining hall. We purchased sleeping bag, trekking bag, trousers, jackets etc. As the day approaches near I feel fear whether the plan will work. It was that moment when it was confirmed to leave for 21st October. Thank God.

Day 1: Kathmandu - Pokhara - Naya pool - Birethanti - Hile, Tikledhunga
We marched from Kathmandu on October 21st from the New Bus Park at Gongabu. We reached early at 5:30 am. We purchased the ticket, snickers, snacks and some chocolate. Purchasing in the city would have been nice than the Bus Park. It was expensive. The Bus left from Kalanki around 7:00 am and reached Pokhara around 1:30 pm. We passed from Pokhara to Naya Pool at around 4:00 pm. We bought the trekking stick that was readily available at the stop. Our first plan to stay at the Birethanti but it was near than we expected. So, to make the first day of the trekking more enjoyable we headed toward Tikledhunga but we could only reach Hile, Tikledhunga as it was getting darker. We had regular dinner dal-bhat and some local alcohol.Day 2: Hile, Tikledhunga - Banthati - Ghorepani
We took a hot shower and freshened up. We took one boiled egg and a lemon tea. This is what we had for breakfast each day for our entire trip. As we moved a head from the hotel we were astonished to see so many foreigners from the kid of age around 13 to the old age people around 62. I haven't seen that number of foreigners in Kathmandu alone. This trek to Ghorepani is the most difficult path of the entire trip. The up hill is the intense path, sweating you in minutes and forces you take the rest within some minutes you begin. This path was jammed by people only. Some of the trekkers were climbing, resting, having some water and snacks. It was the one way path though it was jammed time and again. Indeed there were many trekkers that day. We passed through every trekkers and were a head of them. We had some snickers and Wai Wai (noodles) on the way. The water we drank were mostly from the water fall that were abundantly available on the trek. We had our lunch/brunch at Banthati around 11am and left for Ghorepani. As we approached Ghorepani around 4 pm it was getting cold and chilly. The clouds started to spread over the hill and showed some sign of rain but it didn't. Some of the hotels were packed already since we reached late however we found one. 3 beds for 4 of us, we adjusted. That evening and night was cold. The moon was bright enough to lit up the Annapurna Mountain right behind me which I didn't notice cause we were playing cards - Call Break. As I noticed it, the feeling was WOW. I wished I had a tripod. (In my next trip I'll pack it whatsoever). The dinner was regular, no meat. Playing cards was fun to kill the time and the cold. I slept well that night but my friends could not properly.Day 3: Ghorepani - Poon Hill - Ghorepani - Tadapani - Chueley - Chhomrong
We got ready for the Poon hill at aroun 4am. It took us like an hour to reach to the Poon Hill. Within some minutes the Poon Hill has covered by the people. I was shocked. We felt lucky to find the good place at the view tower. As the sun began to rise the color it flourished on the sky was worth watching. The silhouette of the hills and the mountains was something I was relating to some of the documentary. The first ray of the sun on the Annapurna then to the Dhaulagiri mountain was worth watching for. We were above the clouds. The clouds were aligned such a way like a path to walk to reach to the Dhaulagiri Mountain. The clouds, mountains and the sunshine were just immensely fantastic. Due to the large number of people there it was very difficult to get the good spot to take your picture with the mountain as your backdrop. With some pictures and jpeg and raw we moved down to Ghorepani.With the fresh breakfast we headed to Chhomrong. It was a long path. Most of the people especially the foreigners take a rest at Tadapani from where you can have the close and the finest view of the Machhapuchhare (Fish tail Moutntain) early in the morning. From Ghorepani there was a one hour of up hill hike. As you move up hill you can have the good view of both Annapurna and Machhapuchhare mountain. This view at your left won't stop following, you feel refreshed, energetic and a smile on you face. Until you reach the Tadapani mostly there are down hill. So this path was an easy than our previous day. Until our launch was ready we again played call-break. The clouds began to cover up the sky, mountain and the hills that made us rethink if we should Chhomrong. We had a small view of Mount Machhapuchhare and I was imagining how its beauty could be in the early morning. It was like right in front of us. Oo yes we should have stayed that night at the Tadapani. After the launch we headed to the Chueley. Since there was a continuous down hill our legs and joints were started to have some pain. Hence in Chueley we found a small green ground which the the compound of the hotel. We took some rest there and even laid on the green grass. We could see the Chhomrong village from here. It was just there but the amount of time it took we were very surprised. From the Chueley the up hill started again. As the clouds began to take over it became quite chilly and gave some sing of rain fall. We marched fast. It looked like an early morning fog. You couldn't see the distance for 5 meter in front of you. I enjoyed that view as well. The tree and houses looked awesome. I wanted to take some snaps but was too lazy because of tiredness. Finally we reached Chhomrong. With some snacks and alcohol, I was feeling relaxed. After regular dinner we slept.Day 4: Chhomrong - Bamboo - Dobhan - Himalay - Machhapuchharey Base Camp (MPB)
Everyday we had a plan to reach our destination but this day was different than the others. We planned to reach to Deurali that evening. We reached Bamboo early than expected. With some snacks we had we arrived at Dobhan for the lunch. We talked to the hotel owner for some minutes where we had launch. He advised us to go to ABC the same day. We were surprised. He told we could reach the ABC on the same day on 4 hours from here. We were happy to hear that. We made up our mind to reach the ABC on the same day if not MBC at least skipping the Deurali. When we reached Deurali it was around 3:30 PM. We forced each other to reach the MBC. Arriving at the MBC was difficult. It was probably the longest path of our journey which involved both downhill and uphill. We were tired and was filling difficult to carry on. But for the break we reached in front of the huge water fall. We relaxed a little there though it was getting darker. We reached MBC at around 5:30 pm and there was no chance to reach ABC that evening. We thank that guy for the advice for giving us an idea to reach MBC and for us skipping the Deurali. That night instead of having regular dinner we decided to have pizza. Pizza was okay. We didn't found the room though but we got some place at the dinning hall. Sleeping at dinning hall was not bad at all. We didn't slept at the floor first of all. It was small cozy like a bed. They provided us blanket and that was it for the night. Hot water per glass costed Rs. 50 which we knew when we called for the bill the next day.Day 5: Machhapuchharey Base Camp - Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) - MPB - Himalaya - Dobhan - Bamboo -Chhomrong
We woke up early at 4:00 am. Waking up is an very good idea cause you have the sharing toilet and bathroom. We moved to ABC at around 4:30 am. We reached there before sunrise. It was a beautiful place. You could see the Annapurnna range all around you. You are in the middle of the Annapurna. The 360 degree view of the mountain makes you forget all the hard effort you made in that journey. It is a complete bliss, the silence, the echo and the state of your mind makes you feel you're at the top of the world. We and so did the all other people were busy taking pictures of the mountain and there's with mountain as the backdrop. You can not see the sunrise from there because you are surrounded by the mountain. Its a valley of the mountains. The warmness that you could feel when the sun rays hits the the top of the Annapurna. Everybody was busy clicking and clicking and screaming with excitement. As the sun rose up and take over the Annapurna it feels like where that is a hot volcano. There was service provided by FISHTAIL for the helicopter tour. We stayed there for around 4-5 hours. We even climbed the mountain for 100-200 meter. Then we headed to MBC. We took our stuff from the hotel and moved around 11 am to Chhomrong. We reached Chhomrong ar 6 pm. during this day we walked for 13 hours and thirty minutes.

Day 6: Chhomrong - Ghandruk - Naya Pool - Pokhara (via zeep from Ghandruk)
On this day we planned to stay at Ghandruk but we had to skip it as well because we thought it was not that necessary at all since we had a closer view of the mountains. We had lunch on Ghandruk and wear the Gurrung dress and got some snaps. The lunch we had at Ghandruk was the finest we had on our entire trip. The sukuti (dry meat) tasted very good and the mahee (milk product) was fantastic as well. We took a zeep from there to Pokhara. We stayed at the lake side. After dinner we headed to the restaurant for the chill beer, cocktail and whatever we could find we rejoice and the end the fantastic trip we had. We were lucky to be in happy hour for our cocktails. Some snaks and couple of beers, hukka, the loud live music, the requested songs being played and the party ended with the shots of tequila.

Day 7: Pokhara - Kathmandu (Via Bus)
We headed to Kathmandu from the Hi-ace bus. We departed from Kalanki.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Finally refunding of Deep Pruple tickets has begun in Kathmandu. Some of them have been refunded and some are on the waiting list. The refunding is being provided from their Durbar Marg office behind police booth.

If you have not claimed for your tickets then grab it as soon as possible. Its quite unusual that they have not provided any information on their websites (which is closed now) or on their facebook page.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Deep Purple Concert Postponed on 26 April, 2013

Deep Purple concert live in Kathmandu was schedule on March 13, 2013 has been postponed to April 26, 2013.

This news has made the Nepalese fans very skeptical. There were first rumors regarding whether Deep Purple will perform in Kathmandu. Even after the announcement from the organizers the fans were pretty much in doubt until the Deep Purple official schedule their concert in Kathmandu.

Now this postponement of the concert is very hard to digest for the Nepalese fans. Most of the fans are demanding their money back, some of them are hopeful that the concert will take place on the postponed date, some people wonder why even they even bought the tickets.

Well according to the organizers Jet Set Pr Entertainment and ODC Entertainment, the concert has been postponed not cancelled and this is the major reason why they will not refund the cash. At the back side of the ticket its clearly mentioned in point #5 that "The refund of the ticket is only subjected to cancellation of the event." But the question is will this condition be enough to stop the violence from the fans.

The organizers have further said that the postponement of the concert will be made on different medias and from the Deep Purple official website as well. Well its sure that the postponed information from the organizers will be in doubtful until it is backed up the Deep Purple official website.

Well it is tough time for the organizers. The fans should understand that the organizers have already invested the huge sum of money to Deep Purple Concert here in Kathmandu. The fans have nothing but just to wait until April 26, 2013.

The published information from the organizers regarding postponement can be found in the link below:

"Deep Purple" which was scheduled to take place on 15th March, 2013 (Friday) at Dasarath Stadium, Tripureshwor has been postponed to 26th April, 2013 (Friday) due to unforeseen circumstances .We assure you all that the concert will happen in the given date and we apologize to all the fans and the ticket holders for the inconvenience caused due to this postponement.

Further more details on the concert will be updated soon by tomorrow in all leading & both official Medias.

The official website of Deep Purple will be updated with new date in couple of days and video byte will be out in all electronic media.

Deep Purple Concert Postponed

Deep Purple Live In NEPAL

(March 15, 2013)

Deep Purple Live In Nepal - Deep Purple has official announced through their website to rock Kathmandu on March 15, 2013. The initiative has been taken by well known cvent company who bought us Bryan Adams, Michael Learns To Rock, and some other Indian artist (I don't know them cause I didn't attend them), yes its the JPR Events.

JPR Events had announced some months back regarding their arrival on Kathmandu, but most of the fans were skeptical. Now the Deep Purple have announced through their website, there is no controversy, no doubts and yes Deep Purple will be here to rock Kathmandu on March 15, 2013.

The venue for the concert has been finalized at Dasrath Rangasala Stadium, at Thapathali. The price for the concert as revealed by the JPR EVENTS on their facebook page are like this

Rs. 700.00 (Yes 700.00 only, that's cheap, great news)

Rs. 1000.00

Rs. 2000.00

Rs. 10,000.00 (only limited as much as 200 tickets available. And these 200 tickets holder will get signed CS's of Deep Purple, lot of other benefits)

Well guess what Deep Purple will be here finally at Kathmandu to give you that "Smoke on the water" and make you a "Highway Star".

According to the special supervision of 3rd quarterly report of 2068 of the institution which was carried down from 2069/01/31 to 2069/02/04, it was found out that the institution was unable to maintain the minimum CRR, unable to release the fixed deposit of different organization which has lead to the critical condition, many loans were found to be bad.